Daily Archives: July 3, 2014

Hot or Cold for carpet cleaning? What’s the Answer?

Do you wash your dishes in cold water, whether by hand or in an automatic dishwasher? Do you think it is more effective to wash your hands in cold water? Is it easier to melt away grease and oil on a soiled commercial kitchen floor using cold water?

If your answer to all of these questions is no, then I have one more question for you: Why would someone clean carpets with cold water? There is a very important reason heat—along with agitation, time, and chemical action—is one of the four fundamental components of cleaning, and that is heat speeds up the molecular activity of chemicals so they work harder. The process helps loosen and dissolve soils from carpets so that they can be more effectively removed. For the hotel housekeeper, more effective removal of carpet soils means an easier and more productive shift.

Studies reporting on the value of heat in cleaning date back to the late 1800s. Svante Arrhenius won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1903. One of his discoveries, which is referred to as the Arrhenius equation, is that heat increases chemical action. Essentially, Arrhenius found that for many common chemical reactions, the reaction rate doubles for every 10-degree Celsius increase in temperature over about 87 degrees Celsius.

Click Here To Read More